Chapter 199 - Bountilicious

Karl and Boone had started getting worried over Afton's safety when chaos suddenly erupted at the Trailer Fort. Even from the building they were sequestered in they could hear the brutal barks and whines of the dogs while they tore each other apart.

Neither knew what could've caused this, but both hoped Afton wasn't in the centre of it. Things didn't even seem to be getting better as the Fiends had apparently noticed the commotion and started heading over to see what was happening.​​

The group of Fiends attempted to stop the dogs from killing each other, but this only brought their wrath down upon themselves. Due to this the Fiends started opening fire on the dogs, the sound of discharging firearms being louder than nuclear bombs in the wasteland night.

The worst part was the fact neither man could do anything about this, if they were spotted then every reinforcing Fiend would converge on their position. Even if Afton was okay he'd likely find nothing but their corpses left here.

Karl sighs and takes out a cigarette from his pocket, he'd not needed to smoke in a while but felt that this was a good of a situation that any. He'd just lit it and taken a couple puffs when a hand snatches it straight outta his mouth.

"Yo, why the fuck are you smoking? The light from it is very, very obvious you know!" Afton's voice scolds, causing him to turn.

In front of him was the kid who looked no worse for ware, the only difference Karl could notice was a head-sized object wrapped in fabric hanging from his waist. "So you didn't die." Karl states as if he still wasn't sure.

Afton raises a brow and starts patting himself over, "No, wait, how could I have not noticed? I'm dead!" he says dramatically.

"Fuck off, kid." Karl grouses.

Boone just gives him a meaningful nod while gesturing to his Anti-Material rifle he'd left with them, as well as the rest of his gear. "You wouldn't happen to know what the hell's going on down there?"

Afton shrugs, "Maybe there's a dog called Willian who suddenly wants freedom?" he jokes but has his amusement doused by the unenthused looks sent at him. "Fine, I got a bunch of dogs to eat Psycho and let them go around killing shit, using the distraction to deal with Violet. Cool?"

"Yea." Boone says quietly as he slowly gets up from where he'd been sitting and observing the Trailer Fort. "We should get moving while the Fiends are distracted, no better time than now."

Both knew the truth in Boone's words and quickly started sneaking back towards the sewer tunnels, truthfully, it was incredibly easy to sneak through the Fiends territory while the group was frantically trying to quell the raging Psycho dogs he'd inadvertently created.

The group eventually found themselves walking part the NCR fortification in the sewers, the soldiers themselves giving the ma wide berth. Clearly they'd heard of the massacre they'd performed against the Fiends down here.

Once they'd reached safety the entire group felt the sudden tiredness, this was mainly due to the fact they'd not slept in so long. The adrenaline and tenseness of the situation had finally ended, allowing their bodies to relax.

They decided to just get some rest in the NCR barricade and hand over the bounty tomorrow. It wasn't like they were in a rush or anything.

The next day the group were stood outside Camp McCarren, Afton brushing some dust off of Dirt-Bird that'd been left here for the NCR to protect. Fortuantely no one had seemed to touch it, he needed to give props to the NCR for following their own rules and not laying a hand on his property.

The group was led inside by a rather gracious-looking soldier who handed them off to Major Dhatri who gave them a surprised look when he spotted them.

"Damn, just who I needed to see. We've already received word of your work down there, good job. Clearing the sewers, and causing chaos deep in their territory all in the same day? I have to admit, I wasn't expecting that."

Afton nods while grabbing the bag strapped to his waist, handing it to him. Dhatri opens it up and reveals a broad grin. "Not looking so good now are you Violet?" he sneers before tossing the head at a soldier. To be honest, Afton wasn't sure what they'd do with the head, the NCR didn't seem the type to create trophies out of their enemies.

Dhatri also sends another soldier off to retrieve their reward, looking back at the group with a satisfied nod, "Don't know how you did it, but I won't pry, all that matters is the results in the end."

"Well, we might as well keep pushing while the iron is hot. We wanna take another bounty." Afton states.

Dhatri nods, "Yeah? Cook-Cook or Driver Nephi?"

...

All of the group hated Cook-Cook with a passion, everyone had read Dermot's ledger and wanted a piece of the raping bastard for what he'd done. But... Practically, going after Cook-Cook at this moment was rather difficult, with the chaos they'd caused in the Fiend's territory everyone there would be on high alert.

Cook-Cook was a harder target than Driver Nephi due to his location. The latter essentially being the front line compared to sitting directly next to their main base.

From the information he'd gathered from Violet, Driver Nephi usually holed up in the Samson Rock Crushing Plant. The man only used a golf driver, which meant is was incredibly vulnerable to range attacks... Due to this, he was hard to draw out and usually stayed within confined areas to lure people closer.

The Rock Crushing Plant was the farthest point in the Fiends territory, the NCR had tried many times to kill the man but had all failed, somehow all getting killed by Driver Nephi and his golf club...